***This was posted back in February, and we have decided to extend the deadline to May 1st.

We are presently accepting abstract submissions for the Renaissance Drama session(s) at the 81st meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association conference.

The conference will be held September 19-21, 2024, in New Orleans, LA at Hotel Monteleone.

Any and all inquiries into subjects pertaining to early modern drama are welcome! Still, our proposed panel is particularly interested in exploring the theme of restoration and renewal. Session organizers invite submissions that consider the ways in which dramatic works from the period may grapple with themes of political instability, reclamation from loss or death, and/or other ways in which a state of decay, decadence, or degeneracy rebounds towards a sense of peace, growth, and prosperity. Given the topsy-turvydom of Elizabethan and Jacobean societies and the popularity of romances, revenge tragedies, and comedies on the stage, we feel as though New Orleans, a site of such cross-cultural complexity and resilience, would serve as a great springboard for examining resurgence as it pertains to early modern drama. We also welcome any connections that may be made between this period and other historical eras which grapple with ideas of waning and waxing.

For instance, some possible topics for consideration might include:

Revenge tragedies reflecting on the problems of justice when rooting out corruption.

How comedies allow for a sense of increase that flowers the stage and gives characters a sense of hope in finding a path that thrives.

The featuring of marginalized transgressors as adding value to a community as opposed to imbruing its worth.

Investigations into how the defeat of tyrants paves a path for new parties to fill power vacuums, giving the appearance of order and righteousness.

Musings on the New World as a method for entertaining the prelapsarian imagination.

The session organizers encourage graduate students (at both the MA and PhD levels) as well as scholars to submit to this panel!

Please relay abstracts of no more than 500 words to Ryan Farrar (rfarrar@collin.edu) and Lindsay Sherrier (lindsay.sherrier@sjcd.edu) by 11:59 PM on May 01, 2024.

Further details about the SCMLA and this panel may be found at https://www.southcentralmla.org/conference/.